Flanged pipe connections for pipe lines, well heads and the like commonly involve the interconnection of opposed flanges or a flange and another member to engage and load a soft iron ring gasket in opposing circular grooves in the confronting flange or member surfaces. Such connectors are, for example, the subject of specifications of the American Petroleum Institute (API) and have become standardized.
When such connections are being made up with flanges or members disposed horizontally or nearly horizontally, initial manual positioning or locating of the ring gasket in an upwardly opening circular groove is a relatively simple matter. The bringing or stabbing together of the connector parts may also be relatively simple. In the case of connections being made under stable conditions, on land, if the ring gasket tends to shift laterally, it is also a simple matter to manually hold the ring gasket in place as the connector parts are moved together, although there is danger of hand or finger injury.
Such connections, however, are also being widely used in unstable or difficult environments, for example, for underwater pipe lines and connectors where divers are employed to make up the connectors, and the manual holding of the ring gasket in position is very difficult and tricky, particularly if the diver or divers are required to manually push or pull on the connector parts to bring them into position for connection. The problems are accentuated where the connector is being made up in a horizontal or other non-vertical pipe line or connector.
As disclosed in my companion application for patent, Ser. No. 804,726, filed June 8, 1977, means are provided for initially positioning and locating a ring gasket with respect to the circular groove in one flange connector part, so that the ring gasket is properly positioned for sealing engagement in both of the opposed circular grooves of the companion connector parts when the connector is made up.
More particularly, means are provided for supporting the ring gasket on or adjacent to one of the connector parts, so that the ring gasket remains in proper position for engagement in the grooves of the connector parts, without regard for the angle at which the connector parts may be disposed during makeup. Accordingly, in the case of an underwater connection made up by a diver or divers, the difficult task of manually positioning the ring gasket between the flanges and the hazard to the hands are avoided. The invention renders more safe the making up of such connections even under more stable or surface conditions, and even when the connector parts are on vertical axes, the locating of the ring gasket for proper engagement between the connector parts is assured.
The offshore oil and gas industry has standardized on the use of ring gaskets of the type designated "RX" or "BX" by the API. Reference is made to the "API SPECIFICATION FOR WELL-HEAD EQUIPMENT", API Spec. 6A, Tenth Edition, March, 1974, American Petroleum Institute, Division of Production, Dallas, Tex., pages 33 and 34, for examples of such ring gaskets and companion grooves in flange connections. The present invention is particularly directed towards supporting and positioning such ring gaskets, but is also applicable to the type "R" ring gaskets, see the API specification, page 32, for examples.
Connectors of the type here involved, because of the standards by which the parts are made, cannot be easily or acceptably modified in a significant manner. The connectors using the "RX" type ring gaskets are made up with a load carrying spacer ring between the confronting faces having the grooves which receive the ring gasket or with the confronting faces in engagement. Any variation may result in an ineffective loading of the ring gasket by the sealing walls which form one side of the grooves. On the other hand, "BX" type ring gaskets are normally used in connectors which are made up with the opposing, groove containing surfaces in abutting engagement, and the ring gasket may be deformed into engagement with both side walls of one or both of the grooves.
Broadly speaking, the invention relates to supporting and positioning the ring gasket for engagement in the grooves of the connector or flange parts. Specifically, the invention relates to supporting and positioning the ring gasket of the above-identified "RX" type for engagement in the grooves of the connector or flange part by means of a spacer ring or flange part which limits the movement of the connector parts together, the ring gasket being initially loaded between opposing groove surfaces in the respective connector parts and being pressure loaded from within the connector. In the forms of the invention herein disclosed, in a specific sense, the spacer is a ring connected to or supportable adjacent to one connector part or an abutment flange portion and having means holding the ring gasket in position in the groove of that part in contact with the outer marginal sealing wall of the groove, so that when the companion connector part is assembled against the gasket ring, the ring will engage the other outer sealing wall and be loaded between the sealing walls, to an extent determined by the spacer or flange portion for pressure response from the internal fluid to maintain the seal over the full range of pressures for which the connector is designed.
This invention possesses many other advantages, and has other objects which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of several forms in which it may be embodied. Such forms are shown in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification. These forms will now be described in detail for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that such detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense.